A nozzle beam is already known from European patent text EP 1 472 397 B1, on a device for generating liquid jets for jet interweaving of fibers along a fiber path along the beam, which consists of (or which comprises) an upper part that extends over the operational width of the fiber path and a lower part that is attached to it. In the upper part, along its length, a pressure chamber is placed, to which the pressurized liquid is brought, for example on its front side. Parallel to it, a pressure-distributing chamber separated by an intermediate partition is provided, which is connected with the pressure chamber via a liquid flow-through borehole in the partition. On the lower part, a nozzle plate is supported in liquid-sealed fashion with the boreholes for the nozzles. In the pressure-distributing chamber, a round baffle is placed, eccentric to the axis of the round pressure-distributing chamber in the direction toward the flow-through boreholes, to smooth the liquid flow toward the boreholes in the nozzle strip.
It has been observed that again and again bacterial cultures take hold in the pressure-distributing chamber, if the unit is operated with certain fibers such as cotton fibers, with the bacteria especially settling on the baffle rod. If other fibers such as clean chemical fibers are processed, such problems are scarcely observed at all. These bacteria cultures lead to an undesired contamination of the water circulation loop, which would above all not be appropriate for production of hygiene articles, for which high hygienic standards are set by the customer.
Therefore it is required that the pressure-distributing chamber and the baffle be cleaned regularly and that it be made free of microorganisms that have settled there.
However, such a cleaning becomes difficult in that a cleaning rod must be inserted into the pressure-distributing chamber for the cleaning, and this can only happen if the baffle has first been removed.
From a technical standpoint, to remove the baffle from the pressure-distributing chamber is extraordinarily costly. This is because the baffle is securely screwed in a borehole in the pressure-distributing chamber, and can only be removed if previously the entire lower part of the nozzle beam is dismantled. This, however, results in hydraulically needle-punched product paths experiencing hours of down time.
Therefore the task is to develop a new nozzle beam in which it is easier to clean the pressure-distributing chamber and the baffle. Especially it depends on being able to remove the baffle from the pressure-distributing chamber without being forced to dismantle the entire lower part of the nozzle beam. This goal can be attained by no longer screwing the baffle in the pressure-distributing chamber, but rather only inserting it, so that it can easily be extracted laterally from the pressure-distributing chamber. The baffle's required eccentric position in the pressure-distribution chamber can be attained by having its position be adjusted by spacers in the pressure-distribution chamber, which are slid up onto the baffle as interrupted metallic rings with a spacer ring that is open toward the bottom, and placed at specified intervals.